Rain fade issues in florida?

[tim tim tim]

I was an installer in salt lake city but recently moved here to tampa, fl. I know that with the snow up there people would lose signal obviously well i am hearing of alot of people losing signal here with the storms we get. Is this a common thing with a correctly set up dish (alligned properly etc) or am I most likely hearing this from people with poor signal strengths to begin with?

Also, I was told there is no DNS office in tampa or the surrounding area yet we have seen several DNS vans driving around. Anyone happen to know what office there coming from or if they possibly have remote techs out here?

 

[balink]

I can't help you with the DNS offce, but I can tell you that here in Port Charlotte (about 1hr 10min South of you via I-75) I only get rain fade during the worst storms. I can count on one hand the number of times I've lost signal since I got Dish in September of 2006.

 

[lern4483]

I live in Pompano Beach..South East part of the state.

We get our fair share of rain.

Not all storms knock out Dish network. However bad ones do...

 

[chainblu]

When those thunderheads roll in off the Gulf, they are loaded with rain. So yeah, you could say that rainfade seems to be worse in Florida. I've noticed that the 129 signal really takes a beating here, despite signal strengths in the 80's.

As far as those DNS vans you've been seeing, they are from the RSP that serves much of Florida: Digital Reception Services. Their headquarters is actually based in Tampa.

 

[Jim5506]

129, being so low on the horizon, is shooting through much more atmosphere than satellites to the south.

A lot more room for H2O attenuation of the microwaves.

 

[tim tim tim]

so would a 61.5 set up work better here since its not traveling so far across the horizon?

 

[Frank Jr.]

I used to get all my programing from the 110 and 119 satellites. Those signal strengths were fairly strong and took a severe storm for rain fade to be an issue. I am now on the easter arc, 61.5, 72 and 77. Signal strength is moderate at best. It takes just a moderate rain to cause loss of signal. I have complete clear line of sight and the dish is peaked. It is not a terrible problem as it dosen't rain all the time or as much as it does in Florida I guess. However with all that said let me simply put it this way. If a moderate or strong rain comes Dish goes.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Same in Southeast Texas with Eastern Arc dish. That is why I switched back to western arc + side sat for 61.5. Now have both 129 and 61.5 .

 

[tim tim tim]

were you able to get dish to install the set up to have 61.5 and 129? How does that work for regular channels?

I would assume that the channel numbers are the same across the country so when you have 2 sats putting the same channels (im assuming 129 and 61.5 put out the same channels other then locals) does that affect anything? also how do you make it decide which to get signal from?

 

[OrlandoSGM]

Here in Orlando, we only loose the signal during bad storms.....just a short story, during Hurricane Charley a few years ago, we didn't loose our power OR the Dish Dignal..and were able to keep uo with things, unlike our neighbors with cable...

 

[cj9788]

I live in Jacksonville and rain fade used to be an issue in the worst storms. About 2 years ago I installed a 1M dish on 119w to get a better signal on a spotbeam. It worked I was able to "move" back to Miami. It also elminated rain fade in the worst storms. Some day I am going to get a 1M dish for 110w.

 

[MikeD-C05]

were you able to get dish to install the set up to have 61.5 and 129? How does that work for regular channels?

I would assume that the channel numbers are the same across the country so when you have 2 sats putting the same channels (im assuming 129 and 61.5 put out the same channels other then locals) does that affect anything? also how do you make it decide which to get signal from?

I can't make it pick one sat over another on national hd or even my hd locals since they are available on both 110 and 61.5. Sometimes I get shows recorded on 129 and sometimes on 61.5 . No rhyme or reason to it at all. But it works fine. I can see it being a plus if you have the multi sport pack with all the rsns on it.

 

[tim tim tim]

so if you lose signal to 129 but still had enough to 61.5 then it should automatically get picture from there? sorry just sounds a little wierd, trying to figure it out haha


Also, why the hell does my HD on brighouse cable look SO much worse then the HD I had with dish???

 

[MikeD-C05]

Actually if I lose signal on one sat over another it will just drop out and there will be no channel at all. I then would have to change channels before it would then lock on the other sat where the programming is duplicated.

 

[highdefjeff]

I used to get all my programing from the 110 and 119 satellites. Those signal strengths were fairly strong and took a severe storm for rain fade to be an issue. I am now on the easter arc, 61.5, 72 and 77. Signal strength is moderate at best. It takes just a moderate rain to cause loss of signal. I have complete clear line of sight and the dish is peaked. It is not a terrible problem as it dosen't rain all the time or as much as it does in Florida I guess. However with all that said let me simply put it this way. If a moderate or strong rain comes Dish goes.

What are your signal strengths now? I would guess in the fifties?

 

[Frank Jr.]

What are your signal strengths now? I would guess in the fifties?

upper 50's to upper 60's

 

[PATECO]

upper 50's to upper 60's

That seems a little low for 119°.

I've been selling/installing Dish in south Florida since 1997. With the new software the on-screen meter should be lower 60s to lower 70s for 119° and 70s to 80s for 110°

Dish 1000.2 seems to be a little stronger than dish 500. Even larger individual dishes will improve on that.

For commercial accounts, I use 1 meter dishes with DP Duals. Almost eleminates rain fade. But really heavy afternoon thunderheads can still knock it out for a few seconds.

 

[Frank Jr.]

That seems a little low for 119°.

I've been selling/installing Dish in south Florida since 1997. With the new software the on-screen meter should be lower 60s to lower 70s for 119° and 70s to 80s for 110°

Dish 1000.2 seems to be a little stronger than dish 500. Even larger individual dishes will improve on that.

For commercial accounts, I use 1 meter dishes with DP Duals. Almost eleminates rain fade. But really heavy afternoon thunderheads can still knock it out for a few seconds.

If you read the whole thread back when I was getting all my programming off of 110 and 119 I was in the upper 90's and 100's. Those readings before they changed the scale were mostly obove 110. Now on the eastern arc (61.5, 72,77)I am in the 50's and upper 60's.

 

[highdefjeff]

Not good. Signals need to be higher. Get those 50's to minimum of 66 for great improvement.

 

[Frank Jr.]

Not good. Signals need to be higher. Get those 50's to minimum of 66 for great improvement.

I am really curious. Have you looked at the posted signal strengths for the eastern arc?